Hey America: "Pickle!"
Pickleball is now the fastest-growing sport in the nation for the fifth consecutive year in a row, with 48.3 million U.S. adults (19% of the adult population) having played at least one game in the last 12 months, according to the Association of Pickleball Professionals.
That's welcome news for "picklers," or self-proclaimed addicts. But many others? Not so much. Over the last few years, in response to courts popping up everywhere and bringing the noisy "ticktock cacophony" that comes with the game, communities around the country have been fighting, sometimes through ugly legal battles, to restrict pickleball play. Some simply find the game off-putting, saying it can feel like a "cult," while others are finding it's not as risk-free as originally believed, as game-related injuries are on target to cost Americans upwards of $500 million in medical costs next year.
(ummmmmmmmmmmm sorry this not a sport more like a game that can be played anywhere you pop a net up draw or paint lines and can be played 1 0n 1 or in teams )
It’s also relatively inexpensive and simple to start — a paddle, balls and a pickleball-sized net can be had for well under $200 in total — and tennis and basketball courts are often converted for pickleball use, making it easily accessible.
Despite its being hawked as a friendly sport for beginners, some disgruntled players believe it’s become overly cliquey; outsiders, meanwhile, can be turned off by its extreme marketing, the silly name, the belief that it's "not a sport" ("Any game that you can take up after breakfast and be pretty good at by lunch is not a sport," gripes a recent Washington Post op-ed) or by the cult-like "proselytizers" pushing others to pick up a racquet too.
Pickleball is now the fastest-growing sport in the nation for the fifth consecutive year in a row, with 48.3 million U.S. adults (19% of the adult population) having played at least one game in the last 12 months, according to the Association of Pickleball Professionals.
That's welcome news for "picklers," or self-proclaimed addicts. But many others? Not so much. Over the last few years, in response to courts popping up everywhere and bringing the noisy "ticktock cacophony" that comes with the game, communities around the country have been fighting, sometimes through ugly legal battles, to restrict pickleball play. Some simply find the game off-putting, saying it can feel like a "cult," while others are finding it's not as risk-free as originally believed, as game-related injuries are on target to cost Americans upwards of $500 million in medical costs next year.
(ummmmmmmmmmmm sorry this not a sport more like a game that can be played anywhere you pop a net up draw or paint lines and can be played 1 0n 1 or in teams )
It’s also relatively inexpensive and simple to start — a paddle, balls and a pickleball-sized net can be had for well under $200 in total — and tennis and basketball courts are often converted for pickleball use, making it easily accessible.
- A perceived cultishness
Despite its being hawked as a friendly sport for beginners, some disgruntled players believe it’s become overly cliquey; outsiders, meanwhile, can be turned off by its extreme marketing, the silly name, the belief that it's "not a sport" ("Any game that you can take up after breakfast and be pretty good at by lunch is not a sport," gripes a recent Washington Post op-ed) or by the cult-like "proselytizers" pushing others to pick up a racquet too.